Tina Quincey - Driving Business Forward

Tina Quincey and her husband Gareth run their own upholstery business down on the south coast. But when Tina was diagnosed with rheumatoid and osteoarthritis there was a genuine concern their business might be under threat. Thankfully a neighbour came to her rescue.

I used to…

work in an office as a personal assistant. When I met my husband Gareth we set up our own upholstery business. We have our workshops out the back. I do all the paperwork and the accounts as well as all the driving so he can be doing the actual upholstery work.

In my spare time I love to…

watch football, my son plays for Eastleigh FC so we go to watch him whenever we can. I like to take the dogs for a walk, and I rear birds. I have silkies, bantams and mandarin ducks.

My joint pain first started when…

one morning I woke up in a lot of pain. I couldn’t move my legs and my knees, feet and wrists were swollen. It was terrifying. In the morning when I needed to go to the toilet, I cried all the way to the bathroom. The doctor came out, gave me an injection and took blood before confirming it was rheumatoid arthritis. It happened that quickly.

That was in 2009…

and two years later I had a bone scan where they confirmed that I had osteoarthritis in my knees.

Arthritis is so tough because…

it’s an invisible disability. I get looks and have had comments about using a disabled parking space which I have a badge for - it’s frustrating that people assume you’re fine because you look fine.

You really take your...

joints for granted. Suddenly the smallest of tasks became a huge chore. I couldn’t take the dogs for a walk. Cooking became difficult because I couldn’t take a pan off the stove as it was too heavy. Taking plates out of cupboards became impossible because it was the wrong angle for my wrists. Even the smallest of things like doing your teeth become difficult tasks because your wrists move up and down to brush and it’s agony.

With my knees…

going up and down stairs used to be so slow. I had to take one at a time with both feet. So it would take twice as long. Going up is okay but going down was more painful. Driving I had to change my car because it was too low. It was too hard for me to lower myself into it and then stand to get out because of the pressure on my knees. The new one is higher so I can slide in and out of it. I have to drive a van a lot for our business. Had I not been able to drive, it would have impacted the business quite heavily because Gareth needs to be in the workshop doing the actual upholstery while I go out and about. Stepping in and out of the van to begin with was tough.

I didn’t think anything…

was going to help. Clicking and grinding isn’t going to be helped by a pill. Then my friend Nickie mentioned this gel she used for her knees when she’d had a nasty fall from her horse. She told me it was called Flexiseq and I went straight out and got some.

To begin with I wasn’t sure…

Knowing I can keep the osteo at bay...

with the help of Flexiseq is one battle I don’t have to worry about. My knees don’t bother me at all anymore because of the Flexiseq.

In the past I’ve felt good and thought...

“I don’t need the Flexiseq anymore I feel great.” and I’ve stopped using it. The longest I’ve probably gone is three weeks and then I think “you idiot, what are you playing at”. Flexiseq makes you feel normal again. Because you don’t feel that pain, clicking, grinding, while walking. It’s amazing how much you take normal for granted. Once I start using it again, it acts really fast.